My Hero
by Detective Rysposito
Summary: Even though he's upset that he wasn't the one walking around the precinct with her, he is still very proud of his daughter. Because if he wasn't her first choice as a hero, he's glad Javier is.


"Yes, I understand that," Beckett tried not to sound too impatient on the phone. "Well, we don't have the proof, yet, but if you grant us that warrant _I know_ we'll find it."

Castle gave his wife a soft smile and rubbed her arm, hoping to help calm her down. They'd been stuck in a rough patch during their case and needed this warrant to search a suspect's apartment. Because if their theory proved to be right, then he was the killer. But the DA apparently needs more than just an idea to issue search warrants.

"Okay, fine, I'll figure out something else." She sighed heavily once she hung up the phone. Turning to Castle, she gave him the bad news, "They won't give us a warrant without proof. Real proof." She answered Castle's look.

"We'll figure something out," Castle said encouragingly, "We always do."

Beckett nodded, "I'll just have Ryan shuffle through security cameras by his building and see if they see him leave his around the time of the murder."

"Speak of the devil," Castle smiled and looked over Beckett's shoulder.

Beckett turned around to follow his gaze, ready to stick Ryan to the footage when a certain blue eyed girl caught her eyes. "Sarah!" She smiled, worries of the case already forgotten.

The toddler giggled and started to run causing her blond curls to bounce against her shoulders. "Auntie Kate! Unca' Rick! Unca' Javi!"

Beckett noticed that Ryan did not look as happy as he usually did when he was with his daughter, he actually looked disappointed. But his emotions didn't stop him from letting his daughter drag him to their small group of desks.

Beckett caught the little girl when she practically threw herself into her arms. "Hey, Sarah Grace. You visiting Daddy at work today?"

It was a Saturday, so Sarah had no school and sometimes when she was off and Jenny was at work, Ryan would bring her into the precinct with him.

Ryan forced a smile, "Actually, she's here to learn more about her hero."

Beckett smiled and looked from Ryan to Sarah Grace, "That sounds fun. So, you're following Daddy around today?"

Sarah squinted her big blue eyes with a shake of her head, "No. Unca Javi's my hero."

Oh.

Castle laughed out loud, "Oh, he'll never let you hear the end of that, Ry." Ryan glared at the writer.

Esposito stood up from his desk and leaned down to pick up Sarah, "Well, at least we know she gets her brains and common sense from her mother." He kissed her cheek loudly.

Ryan ignored the look his partner was giving him and handed him a small video recorder and piece of paper. "Here, on the paper are all the questions you have to answer and criteria you have to include. It's going to be a mini movie when you're finished."

"So, basically just let the Leprechaun follow me around and answer her questions all about how she likes me better than you?" Esposito took the paper and video recorder from his partner's hands.

Beckett rolled her eyes, and played the part of the mature, older sister/mother(?) and spoke, "Alright, Espo, that's enough. Just help Sarah with her homework and Ryan I need you to run through some tapes for me."

Ryan grumbled under his breath as he watched Sarah start to explain to Esposito everything they needed to do (even though it was already in the directions) and he couldn't help the twinge of jealousy he felt. He wanted to be the one working on Sarah Grace's 'My Hero' project. _He_ was, after all, _her father_.

Beckett saw the look on Ryan's face as he watched Esposito and Sarah head to the break room so she quickly stole a moment to distract him. "Hey, Kev, you think you can run through the security tapes for a few minutes?"

He casted one last look at his partner and daughter before he nodded and reluctantly got to work.

For the rest of the week during Sarah's visits, he did his best to ignore her loud, adorable voice explaining _everything_ that Esposito was doing. She even stopped by his desk a few times, recording when Ryan delivered the footage to Beckett that let them get the search warrant they needed and ultimately broke open the case.

Most of the time when Sarah was 'secretly' filming in the break room, Ryan didn't even notice his daughter was in the precinct. She barely came over because, _"It's a surprise, Daddy."_

So now here they are, the immediate family, Jenny and Sarah Grace sitting on Castle's couch ready to watch her video. Sarah settles on her father's lap and orders, "Unca Rick, press play!"

Castle laughs and presses play before sitting back down next to Beckett.

It starts with Sarah Grace introducing the small team of detectives and Captain Gates. It's from her point of view, so you can only see at knees height as she trotted through the precinct. She asked Esposito tons of questions that he answered with complete patience even when she repeated a few.

There was a fair share of teasing when the boys didn't know Sarah Grace was filming and Ryan reminds himself to edit out the dirty jokes later. Even though he's upset that he wasn't the one walking around the precinct with her, he is still _very_ proud of his daughter. Because if he wasn't her first choice as a hero, he's glad Javier is.

Then the video skips to Sarah Grace talking with Castle and Beckett. The video camera suddenly shifts to the elevator where Ryan and Esposito are exiting with a large perp between them. As they got closer, it became clear that Ryan was actually limping and they both bared matching black eyes.

Esposito shoved the perp into an officer's awaiting arms, "Take this prick down to holding. I think his phone call to his lawyer may not get through until a few hours."

Once he was gone, Esposito and Ryan turned around to go to their desks. In sync, they fell into their seats with relieved sighs. But before they get a second to breathe, Sarah Grace had the camera up close. "Daddy, Unca' Javi, what happened?"

Ryan sat up straighter not wanting to worry his daughter, but his partner decided that he'd tell the story. "We found out our perp trying to book it from the country and got to his apartment just as he was leaving. Of course they never make it easy and he ran. Daddy over here chased him down the alley and followed him up the fire escape." As Espo continued to tell it, Sarah got more excited, "After a brief scuffle, the perp threw a few punches at him, and tackled him off the fire escape."

Sarah must have made a face behind the camera because suddenly Esposito paused his story telling to reassure her, "Don't worry, I caught the doofus."

"I'd like to point out he's talking about me, not the perp." Ryan butted in, a hand bracing his back.

As Ryan watches the film, he cringes remembering how painful that fall was.

"Yeah, well, he's also the one that gave me this shiner. With his elbow." Esposito gestured to his right eye.

"You should have just said it was from that dirtbag, man, because really? An elbow?" Ryan smiled with his eyebrows. "Makes you sound more manly."

Esposito shoved Ryan, "And let him get the legacy of catching _two_ NYPD detectives off guard? I don't think so. Besides, it was _your_ elbow! I could have let you fallen and broken your neck, but no, I caught your skinny, white ass and what do I get as a thank you? A black eye."

Ryan grinned, "Aw, Javi, I'm sorry I forgot. _Thank you so much_." He leaned over to try and catch his partner in a hug, but he shoved him away and Ryan couldn't move that much because of his sore back.

"Shut up, you big dork."

After that, there's not much left on the film except for a few moments with the three detectives and the writer; working, joking around and even sneaking snacks at their desks. Soon the screen went black and Ryan assumes it ended, "That's a great vid-"

Sarah Grace jumps up before he can finish and covers his mouth, " _Shh_! It's not over yet!"

Ryan mumbles an apology as Sarah settles back down. The tape picks up again just as Ryan feels his daughter lean against him.

This time it was Sarah Grace sitting on a break room chair as she spoke to the camera, "This is the end of my hero project. I hope you loved to learn about my Uncle Javi." She paused and looks over the top of the camera lens where presumably Esposito was filming and then looked back into the camera a moment later, gummy smile and all. "My hero is my Uncle Javi because he keeps my Daddy safe."

Now the video ends and Ryan turns to his daughter with wide, tear filled eyes. "He's your hero because he keeps me safe? I thought…" He trails off when he sees Sarah staring up at him with a confused look on her face, "Oh never mind what I thought." He wipes a tear from the corner of his eye.

Sarah smiles and immediately wraps her arms around her father's waist. "I'm glad you like it, Daddy."

As Sarah hugs the life out of him, Ryan looks over to his partner who is sitting just on the other side of her. They make eye contact and Ryan mouths the words, " _Thank you."_

Esposito tries to brush it off like it's nothing, but as he watches his partner kiss the top of his daughter's head and tears are beginning to wet his eyes he knows there's nothing he could have done to make his partner happier.

(Except for catching him off the fire escape, of course.)


End file.
